Best wood to learn side bending?

[Tomcat]

Walnut bends fine and cherry too. Remember all wood need a couple of years of seasoning/drying (or kiln drying) before bending. Just gets some and try it! What are you waiting for?

Thanks for the info, Carl. And I'm waiting for...a chance to finish my current two kits before I start buying for the one after that!

But that does bring up another question: when you buy tops and B&S sets from a standard site (e.g. Stewmac, Exotic Tonewoods, Blues Creek), are they generally already seasoned, ready for just the couple of weeks of acclimating to your shop's humidity, or do you expect them to need longer seasoning?

[carld05]

They're ready w/shop acclimation.

[Tomcat]

They're ready w/shop acclimation.

Thanks for the confirmation 😀

[Diane Kauffmds]

Mahogany and cherry are easy bends. The first wood I bent was cherry, followed by Mahogany.

[jread]

I learned on birch, which is easy to bend but probably isn't good tonewood.

[/quote]

JLT: Birch is actually a fabulous tonewood. Harmony and similar Chicago made guitars were often solid birch. It grew all over the Chicago area and a lot of furniture and guitars were made from it. So many, there's hardly any birch left up there.

My 1st venture into repairs was this Stella by Harmony. It was my very 1st guitar and I "ruined" it back when I was a kid and sanded all the paint off. I replaced the top and back with red birch from RC Tonewoods. I was so new back then that I had Mr. John Hall thin and join the top and back for me. I re-used the original braces, neck, and sides.

This guitar sounds pretty great.

[Tomcat]

I've ordered some of those mahogany "seconds" from Exotic from the link posted earlier in the thread (thanks Carl!!) for first practice. Such a bargain, for the purpose in mind. I'm glad to know that cherry and walnut are also easy bends. I'll see how the practice goes before I order more wood.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice!!

[Tomcat]

Jread,

The birch guitar is beautiful! It's it possible for folks to post audio clips on the board, too?

I have a couple of questions on the design. It looks like the strings cross the bridge and attach to a tailpiece. Does the bridge float, held in place only by string tension, or is it still glued in place to ensure the proper scale length? And does the bracing under the bridge still need to be as strong, or can it be less structured to leave the top freer to vibrate?

[vance]

Oak, white Oak in particular. It can also make a fine b&s wood when you're done.

[jread]

Jread,

The birch guitar is beautiful! It's it possible for folks to post audio clips on the board, too?

I have a couple of questions on the design. It looks like the strings cross the bridge and attach to a tailpiece. Does the bridge float, held in place only by string tension, or is it still glued in place to ensure the proper scale length? And does the bracing under the bridge still need to be as strong, or can it be less structured to leave the top freer to vibrate?

Hey Tomcat,
Sorry I missed your question in August! Yes, the bridge on my Stella is the original and it just sits on the top and is pretty difficult to slide at full tension, so it doesn't move around. You can get it to move to adjust intonation slightly, but it's never been an issue for me. I did this rebuild about 6 years ago now and the top is still as flat as can be so it hasn't warped under tension with just the original ladder bracing.

I re-used the original bracing but replaced the top and back as they were cracked, warped and I had sanded it to oblivion in the 90's before I knew better. I had considered re-designing to X-bracing but always loved the bluesy sound of the guitar and to my ear, I re-captured that. This thing is very fun to play. This guitar taught me a lot and my next project was my 1st Kit from Blues Creek Guitars. After that, I started doing it all myself.

ps. If you look closely, I have the strings on incorrectly in the pic. The balls go on the other side of the plate. Just sayin.

[Tomcat]

Very interesting, J! Thanks for catching up with my question. The top underneath the bridge is usually not finished where a regular bridge is glued - how about under this kind? Also, when you change strings, do you have a reliable mark to get it back in the right place, or do you have to change them one at a time so it stays put during the entire process?

And thanks to Vance for reawakening the thread. I've heard of oak back and sides, but don't know much about the tone you'd expect from it. Or whether it's easy or hard to work compared to more typical b&s woods. What's your experience of it?

You know me - a human question machine is this curious cat...